We go about our daily lives - we go to work, we go to school, we have relationships with families and friends, we plan for our future, but one question never goes through our mind. What if none of this was real? What if everything we believed and lived for never existed at all, but is merely part of our imagination, a dream that goes on forever. This idea of false reality is explored in the film "The Matrix". What if virtual reality wasn't just for fun, but was being used to imprison you? That's the dilemma that faces mild-mannered computer jockey Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) in "The Matrix". It's the year 2070, and Anderson works in a cubicle, manning a computer and doing a little hacking on the side. It's while engaged in the latter activity that Thomas makes the acquaintance of Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), who has some interesting news for Mr. Anderson -- none of what's going on around him is real. It seems Thomas, like most people, is a victim of The Matrix, a massive artificial intelligence system that has tapped into people's minds and created the illusion of a real world, while using their brains and bodies for energy, tossing them away like spent batteries when they're through. Morpheus, however, is convinced Thomas is "Neo," "the one" who can crack open The Matrix and bring his people to both physical and psychological freedom. Neo's life before the introduction to the Matrix is full of questions and uncertainty. His search for the answer to the question of what is the Matrix goes on his whole life. He is driven by that question, spending years searching for answers. The world he lives in seems unusual to him, the feeling of something being wrong never leaves him. During day he is Thomas Anderson, a programmer working at a prestigious computer company. After work he is Neo, a hacker in search of a key to the puzzle. His double life is somewhat of a reflection of the Matrix, where the "real" life is the one that is hidden from the outside world.
